


Misery Loves Company

by Kumikoko



Category: Fire Emblem Series, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Bullying, F/M, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-09
Updated: 2019-08-09
Packaged: 2020-08-13 09:23:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20171926
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kumikoko/pseuds/Kumikoko
Summary: Ignatz has some strong feelings about being bullied by Lysithea during their B support conversation.





	Misery Loves Company

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, I'm kind of really, you know, pissed the hell off. Like, everyone absolutely loves Lysithea. Their attitude is that, "she is beautiful and smart so who cares if she bullies Ignatz or is rude to other characters?" I'm really done with this type of toxic attitude that people seem to have in regards to her character.  
Like, why is it okay for her to bully people just because she is pretty and smart and "tells people like it is." I don't know about other people but I was raised to not support bullies. I was raised that bullying is wrong. And quite frankly I'm upset that people are defending her bullying behavior. She was awful to Ignatz and I distinctly remember her being rude to other characters for no reason!   
Yeah, she's pretty, yeah, she's strong, yeah she's smart. But she's also not a nice person. Can we all just acknowledge that? For a minute?  
So I had to write this story. You'll notice a lot of the beginning dialogue is written directly from Fire Emblem 3 Houses. I turned the game on, copied and pasted their exact B conversation so everyone can read and see how much of a mean girl Lysithea was with Ignatz and why that shouldn't be okay and why it shouldn't be excused.  
A tragic childhood or dark powers that sap life away is not an excuse to bully others.   
Can we like, novel idea, NOT support bullies? Excuse bullies? Defend bullies?  
This fanfic is dedicated to Ignatz and other young men who were bullied by popular women. I get it. I've been bullied myself, here on the archive too. And so I feel passionate about my anti bullying campaign.   
This fic is to express some of the potential feelings Ignatz may have felt.   
In my experience, bullies defend bullies. Please, everyone, be safe and do not let toxic people be in your life. Read good fics and enjoy life.   
And, like, I'm totally into Raphael being friends with Ignatz and I'm really into the Raphael and Leonie ship, so I made mentions of both themes!  
Also I'm really hating discord. Why does anyone use it?  
I do NOT own Fire Emblem nor any of its characters.

“Oh hey it’s you, going for a walk again today?” Lysithea asked as she approached Ignatz.

“No, I’m on cooking duty today, and I have to head into town for some groceries.” Ignatz responded with a shake of his head.

“All on your own? Hm, I’d better go with you,” Lysithea decided, pressing a thoughtful hand to her chin. “I’d be worried if you went by yourself.”

_Does she think I can’t handle grocery shopping by myself_? “No, please! I can manage on my own!” Ignatz refuted, shaking his head again.

“But won’t you have a hard time carrying everything back?” Lysithea pressed, folding her arms across her chest.

“Not at all, I’ll be fine,” Ignatz insisted, wanting to prove he wasn’t as useless as everyone always thought he was. “I’m just replacing a few ingredients. Also I may not look it but I’m quite strong. I’ve been exercising every day.”

“You’re right—you don’t look it. Your biceps are a fraction of the size of Raphael’s. If you start fumbling around under the weight of all the groceries and then you trip and spill everything everywhere—look I’m just saying that could be your future. It could happen, it doesn’t look pretty.” Lysithea said, waving her hand for emphasis.

“That’s what you think of me, huh?” Ignatz asked, his eyes downcast as his heart weighed heavily in his chest. _No one ever trusts me to do things on my own, and she’s no different_.

“Yep, you’re honestly a bit of a mess.” Lysithea insisted with a nod of her head.

_So she does think I’m useless and that I can’t do anything right_. “I see. If that’s how you feel…”

“Oh, knock it off with the wounded puppy dog eyes!” Lysithea huffed, placing her hands on her hips. “As though I’m some sort of villain in your story.”

“I’m sorry, that wasn’t my intention,” Ignatz blurted, “I’m just a bit sensitive that’s all. You’re talking like you don’t respect me.”

“I see. So now its my fault?” Lysithea questioned, narrowing her eyes. “No matter how grown you seem to think you are, there’s so much you’re incapable of. You can play at being a mature adult but it only ever complicates things. And that’s exactly what makes you look like a child.”

Her cruel words sent a cold chill down Ignatz’s spine. He felt hot tears sting the corners of his eyes. _It’s so easy for her to look down on me, with how smart and capable she is. She would never understand what it is like to be me_. “Oh enough already! Would you just leave me alone?” Ignatz shouted, clenching his hands into fists as he turned and ran away from her.

He turned a corner and rushed through the hallway, feeling emasculated and worthless. In his haste he stumbled on the stairs and collided with the wall. A cracking noise alerted him his glasses had snapped in half.

_As if today wasn’t already bad, now I have to go to the market place with broken glasses and everyone will know how useless I am_. Ignatz thought as he held his glasses together with his hands. Through the blur in his vision he could see a poster tacked up to the wall. He blinked away furious, belittled tears and read the mantra wrote in bold letters;

“Wrongeth is bullying, wrongeth to not consult a teacher.”

“Ah hey,” Ignatz jolted, whirling around on his heels to see Raphael. “I saw you were in a hurry and then I saw you trip and I, ah, wanted to make sure you were okay.”

Ignatz blinked at Raphael while his brain tried to make sense of his words. He finally realized what a mess he was and furiously rubbed the back of his hands against his eyes to wipe away the tears. In doing so, he dropped half of his glasses.

“Oh, your glasses,” Raphael remarked, kneeling quickly to scoop up the half that had fallen. “Were you being bullied? Just give me a name, I’ll punch them out with my big meat of a fist!” He said, and punched his own hand for emphasis.

“N-no, it’s not like that…” Ignatz muttered, taking the glasses away from his friend. “It’s just something a girl said to me…”

Raphael clamped his mouth shut and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well…I…I can’t punch a woman…even if she deserves it…”

“She…she thinks I’m useless…she said it herself…” Ignatz said, grabbing his arm self-consciously. “She doesn’t even think I can go to the market on my own. She thinks I’ll drop everything and make a mess of myself as I always do.”

“Well, I can go to the market place with you,” Raphael suggested, wrapping a large arm around Ignatz’s shoulders. “And when we return, why don’t we tell the professor about this girl?”

“You think the professor will listen to us?” Ignatz asked, solemnly letting Raphael lead him back up the stairs. “She’s a woman, Raphael…there’s no way she’ll believe another woman is bullying me…”

“I suppose you’re right about that,” Raphael sighed, frowning. “Still, wasn’t the entire point of the seminar to discourage bullying?”

“Yeah, but apparently Lysithea missed the memo…” Ignatz mumbled, feeling fresh tears gather in the corners of his eyes. _She didn’t have any reason to be that mean to me_.

“Ah, Lysithea…” Raphael remarked, his eyes beginning to glint with compassion. “She left me in a broken heap the other day too…”

“Really?” Ignatz asked, lifting his head up to stare at Raphael with surprise.

“Mhm, she reamed me out about being a buffoon who knows nothing of the ‘finer arts of knowledge.” Raphael replied, waving his arm for emphasis.

“How can she even get away with bullying us!?” Ignatz shouted, clenching his hands into fists. “If either of us said anything mean to her, she would cry, run to the professor and have us all expelled! So what makes it okay for her to be so mean to us!?”

“Because being mean is only wrong when men do it?” Raphael guessed with a shrug of his shoulders.

“It’s not right for her to treat people that way just because she’s beautiful and smart!” Ignatz continued, huffing. “I don’t understand what her appeal even is. I mean, I know I’m sensitive and maybe I’m not as strong or as smart as other men around here but I did not deserve to be spoken to like that!”

“Nah, I hear you,” Raphael agreed, guiding Ignatz outside. “But so long as she is pretty, everyone will overlook how cruel she is to guys like us. It’s actually why I kind of, er, like Leoni.”

“Leoni?” Ignatz repeated, looking up at his friend again.

“Yeah, Leoni is…well, she’s like one of the guys you know? And she looks like us…I think something about her not being feminine makes her nicer, more chill…she would never bully you nor I like Lysithea does.” Raphael explained, thinking fondly of the tomboy warrior.

“Wait,” Raphael and Ignatz turned, noticing Leoni heading their way. “Lysithea is bullying you guys?”

Ignatz’s face reddened with shame. He clutched his broken glasses close and turned away, hoping to hide the tears on his cheeks.

“Well, uh,” Raphael stammered, flushing just as red as Ignatz. “It was, uh, a girl, who…er…uhm…”

“Oh boy,” Leoni whistled with a shake of her head as she hoisted her weapon behind her shoulders. “No one is going to bully my man and his friend without answering to me about it.” She declared, her face glistening from sweat from working out. “I’ll go find her. You two, know she’ll never bully you again.”

“Are you going to hurt her?” Ignatz blanched, shocked and horrified.

“Nah, I’m just going to talk to her,” Leoni promised, winking at them, “Besides, the professor will never believe that someone so small and liking of sweets could be a bully so it’s best to let me handle her.”

“Er…she’s not going to hit her, is she?” Ignatz whispered to Raphael, still concerned about Leoni’s intentions towards Lysithea.

“She’s definitely going to hit her,” Raphael responded gravely, rubbing at his neck again. “And that’s why I want to marry that girl. She protects her friends and stands up to them.”

“I didn’t mean to cause any of this…” Ignatz muttered, pressing a forehead to his hand. He was upset, and he was mad, but surely letting Leoni punch Lysithea out was not fair either? Leoni was brawny and Lysithea was….intellectual.

“Forget it, we have a job to do.” Raphael said, pushing Ignatz away from the school and towards the market.

Ironically, they passed by another anti-bullying sign.


End file.
